This original research by Internet Retailer offers insights into whats driving growth in sales conversion among Americas leading web merchants.

Marty NoteListening to David Payton discuss the cool conversion report FedEx created with Internet Retailer:

1. Free Shipping = top way to convert visitors to buyers. Some will even opt for a slower time for free shipping. Some want ship to store. Free shipping is "essential" said VP Marketing David Payton at SMB Conference today.

2. Responsive = device agnostic. The ability to see the site and have the site function across platforms is key. Company in David's slide deck saw a 40% increase in conversion from responsive design.

3. Email Marketing Still MattersDavid's and FedEx's study shows email is still very important. Persoans and personalizing emails is key. No more batch and blast.

The Problem of Web CopyToday a friend shared copy that fought itself. He was trying to tell two stories at once. You can't tell two stories at once without reader confusion. I suggested combining the two very cool elements he wanted to mash together into a single story.

"Think of each element as a character in the story, in a story where difference between them will become zero at resolution," I suggested. The conversation reminded me of why storytelling is the future of web copy and why storytelling online is different than writing novels.

Online NOW is the only time that matters, so even historical reference needs to be shared in present tense. Wandering down a historical path is a sure prescription for readers wandering off. Find more online storytelling tips in the G+ post.

Posted by Serge Salager on TechCrunch Editor’s note: Serge Salager was formerly CEO of OneMove Technologies and a marketing manager at Affinnova and Procter & Gamble. After several years of relatively stagnant waters, what was a dull CRM landscape dominated by one player is heating up dramatically. Salesforce officially put its $3.5 billion market …

Marty NoteWOW and WOW. Hubspot confirms what web marketers already know - distance between CRM, CMS and Content Marketing / Curation is short. As distinctions between tools blurs because it must we will gain.

Perhaps a new generation of tools will actually WORK without needing to string a ten tools together, bridge five analytics ecosystems and answer the questions we need to know in near real time.

Are you looking to boost leads on your real estate website? If yes, this blog is the most readable for you as it contains 6 highly effective ways to generate more leads on your real estate website. Check-out this blog and share your views.

Welcome to the 6th in the Monday Marketing Masters series, bringing you my take on the best of the best marketing and branding strategies out there today. Still chugging! I was watching a TED talk today on a topic only a geek like myself would be attracted to, I thought…until, it occurred to me that, […]

What a Real Estate agent should not being doing in the social media networks. Here are the real estate social media blunders that so many agents make that should be avoided at all costs if you want to be successful in the social space.

Great post about how to connect two important dots: buyer personas and content marketing. Customers are different, but they are usually different in similar ways (lol).

This means we can form cohorts or groups of customers in order to increase the relevance of our messaging, marketing and communication. Relevance is an important idea.

Batch and blast days where the same message, usually SALE SALE SALE, is sent to everyone is over. Making sure you send relevant messages to your customers is now a CSF (Critical Success Factor). Sending non-relevant messages is NOISE and the world is noisy enough.

Add to the world's noise and you break the first rule of web marketing - permission means only relevant messages please. The web is so DATA RICH customers are USED TO relevant communication. So used to relevant communication they will not look on being spammed lightly or without action (leaving your list or worse discussing how non-relevant you are to their social nets).

Oh, and don't forget to CURATE content more than you CREATE content because curating sends the "we listen and care about others" signal and trust us you want that :).

2M Views On GooglePlusYou may think, "2M views so what, many have more than that," and you would be right and wrong. Right because many friends including @Mark Traphagenand @Neil Ferree(to name just two) have many more G+ followers and views than little ole me.

The point of Social Media Marketing is not to win a horse race. The point is to communicate YOUR message in order to create scaled online community. Once your community more than pays for itself your "degrees of freedom" open up.

If you know of another "moderate effort, HUGE return" tool please share and I will use that one too. In the meantime G+ may be the best "do less, get more" online marketing tool ever created. G+ is Davids stone helping to slay giants - how else can a tribe the 4500 generate views of more than 2M?

So get out your sling and load up some G+ rocks today and your digital marketing will be slaying giants soon too :). M

Social Media: It’s The conversation, stupid Are You Listening? Why is it so hard for institutions and companies to listen? Here is a sequence of social marketing I created to support the James Cancer Hospital that underscores how listening creates opportunity in a social / mobile / connected time.

Scenttrail Note Responsive DesignI wanted a post to explain Responsive Design's SEO implications in easy clear language and this ex.no post does that beautifully. I wanted an easy explanation of WHY RESPONSIVE so I could blow your mind a little.

Responsive impacts SEO because Google wants to be relevant to mobile search. The Ez.no post explains that dimension well, but there's another dimension rarely considered - Responsive Design's impact on data architecture.

Data architecture seems a lost science. Having spent most of the December tunneling into a friend's website (http://www.Moon-Audio.com) I can tell you there is NOTHING more important than how you classify information on your site.

The tug-of-war between search spiders and people has a new dimension now - mobile people. Mobile people need FLAT design, fewer options and smaller more visual presentation. Bless WordPress for making it so easy to Accordion a site's design, but if you don't think about HOW your information will be displayed on smartphone you are nuts.

Mobile people need different kinds of presentation and design than even laptopers. Mobile people need flatter, louder and more engaging User Interfaces.They need simple connection (to friends and social nets) and swiipe-y "waterfall" content.

You can't create "waterfall content" because your blog has rsponsive design built in. You get a site that doesn't sit well in its mobile coat. Better to STOP and RESTART with MOBILE FIRST as your content marketing guide and that means:

We don't READ on mobile devices we scan, swipe and send. Look at your GPlus or Facebook timelines. What gets all the engagement?

1. Pictures. 2. Questions3. Videos

Some content such as contests and games combine those elements with deadlines, prizes and competition (always good for mobile). Are you thinking MOBILE FIRST? Share HOW and we will write a http://www.curagami.com post about how to THINK Mobile First.

Sharing your scoops to your social media accounts is a must to distribute your curated content. Not only will it drive traffic and leads through your content, but it will help show your expertise with your followers.

Integrating your curated content to your website or blog will allow you to increase your website visitors’ engagement, boost SEO and acquire new visitors. By redirecting your social media traffic to your website, Scoop.it will also help you generate more qualified traffic and leads from your curation work.

Distributing your curated content through a newsletter is a great way to nurture and engage your email subscribers will developing your traffic and visibility.
Creating engaging newsletters with your curated content is really easy.